Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is seen on a television screen in the Senate Press Gallery during the tenth hour of his speech on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Written by

Dana Milbank

John McCain said more in 10 minutes on the Senate floor than Ted Cruz did in 21 hours.

The Texas hothead had just completed his impressive bladderbuster, in which he discussed Ashton Kutcher and Toby Keith, did a Darth Vader impression, recited passages from Ayn Rand, read "Green Eggs and Ham" to his daughters at home, and spoke directly to his "sweetheart" via C-SPAN. At the end, he thanked dozens of people for their contributions to his marathon, as if rolling the credits on the heroic film of his life.

To the extent that Cruz's phony filibuster had a point (it didn't delay any vote) it was to shame ...